I just bought the truck and found out the Flywheel is missing or burnt teeth for about 3" t0 4" on the flywheel. The starter will have to be replace to. I never owned a vehicle with a bad flywheel ever. Is this a common problem on 2000 Ford F-150 and other Ford made product.
Do your research before buying a used car. Sounds like you got screwed over.
It sounds like you got screwed over. Next time make sure to carefully look over the vehicle and get a car fax report. Also as far as the gas mileage goes its great when compared to other trucks from then same era.